Tioga Pass Prognosticator #7

This is our seventh attempt at predicting future road conditions on one of our favorite mountain crossings in the American West. Last winter, (December, 2008), we awarded our very first official Tioga Pass Prognosticator Award to Great American RoadTrip Forum member weirj. More information about that award can be found here.

Update: June 2, 2009: ******Phil Boardman correctly prognosticated this year's opening date of the Tioga Pass Road. More information about this achievement here.*************

Tioga Pass which is found on California State Route 120 provides the eastern access to Yosemite National Park and is usually the last pass opened to the roadtripping public each Spring. As such, it has become the RTA harbinger for the start of the summer road trip season in the west.

In the past we've had two winners of the dcTPP… (Which is also known as the official Darn Close -- Tioga Pass Prognosticator) -- Hotel Charlotte ( Lynn & Victor) and Kinless, for their predictive skills in the spring of 2008 and 2007, respectively, but we have yet to award an official Tioga Pass Prognosticator for a spring opening.

Official Tioga Pass openings in recent years:
2008: May 21st (8:00 am)
2007: May 11th (this was an early one!)
2006: June 17th
2005: June 24th
2004: May 14th
2003: May 31st
2002: May 22nd
2001: May 12th

The "Contest"
You are welcome to use your predictive talents and if you manage to hit the correct date -- the RTA Editorial group will pay for a tank of roadtrip fuel in your personal roadtrip ride. Legal has suggested that we identify what this means.... So, for the record, the prize will be limited to $75.00 USD To win this prize, the date must be posted** on this Forum more than or equal to fifteen (15) days prior to the official opening date. (**Your "date" must be identified in a post on this thread...**) Further, you must identify a particular date in your post. And if you manage to identify the correct opening time within 60 minutes.... you'll receive an additional surprise gift from RTA. The official date for this Tioga Pass Prognosticator contest tracks with Pacific Time (USA), so no matter what date it might be in your local neighborhood, the date used for this contest will be the same one used by the officials at Yosemite National Park for Tioga Pass.

And this is a very cool page -- it lists the opening and closing dates for other high Sierra Nevada passes, which might give you an edge as predict this year's dates.... (Produced by Caltrans).

Here are five Web cams from Yosemite Valley. If you scroll down the bottom of this Web cam page, you will see a photo of the current conditions at the Tioga Pass Entry Gate.... {Often times in winter, the camera lens is covered by snow, so if nothing is showing in the photo below, check back in a couple of days} Or... you can just check in every day!
(Photo updated 4 times per day by UCSD)